Everyone here is commenting about MDM being used in the enterprise, but what about schools?
I'm in education and the iOS schools we deal with use different MDM solutions, and certainly not Apple's MDM software.
Apple Defends Decision to Remove Parental Control Apps
51–60 of 70 posts
Re: Apple Defends Decision to Remove Parental Control Apps
#52Isn't a child's phone a managed device? Using MDM for parental control seems entirely appropriate.
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Re: Apple Defends Decision to Remove Parental Control Apps
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Apple doesn't make money from you spending all day on your phone. They would be fine if everybody would buy a phone, maybe a couple of apps, and set aside until there was a need. You are mistaking them for Facebook or any of the other engagement-driven, ad-selling companies.
Apple most certainly makes money off of ads. It isn’t a major profit center but according to the following article it is on track to rake in $2B by next year. Also they make a nice cut of sales via app purchases an in-app purchases. They. Definitely want you using your device as regularly as possible to capitalize on that revenue opportunity. Their stance on privacy and security is a marketing angle capitalizing on t…
Search ads, for instance in the App Store.
Again, nobody spends all day searching the App store. Apple's business model is not driven by your engagement. They make vastly more money when you make discreet choices, like buying a device, purchasing a subscription, etc.
Re: Apple Defends Decision to Remove Parental Control Apps
#54FTA: "The controversy follows comments last week by chief executive Tim Cook, who said that Apple wanted to see customers spend less time on their devices." Talk is cheap and sells well...
Apple doesn't make money from you spending all day on your phone. They would be fine if everybody would buy a phone, maybe a couple of apps, and set aside until there was a need. You are mistaking them for Facebook or any of the other engagement-driven, ad-selling companies.
Less time on your phone could equal less app purchases, less revenue for app developers, less loyalty to the eco-system. If everyone truly cut screen time down just 10% less a week, Apple would feel it through the app developers pain.
Re: Apple Defends Decision to Remove Parental Control Apps
#55I find the decision of the scorned developers to file with the European Union’s competition office amusing considering the Union's incredibly strong stance on individual data privacy. iPhones contain so much personal data on-device that Apple is absolutely responsible for protecting that data from illegitimate access. Using MDM which is clearly intended for enterprise management is an illegitimate use-case. Period. T…
Whatever Europe's crazy data privacy laws, it's ridiculous they'd apply to the case of a parent keeping track of their kids. The kid's right to wander into crazy elsagate videos and have covert online conversations with predators unsupervised is more important than the parent's right to protect their kid, and Apple is justified in ripping the monitoring capability out of parents' hands? Is that what you're saying? Ho…
> The kid's right to wander into crazy elsagate videos and have covert online conversations with predators unsupervised is more important than the parent's right to protect their kid, and Apple is justified in ripping the monitoring capability out of parents' hands? Is that what you're saying?
No one is saying that. Just like privacy laws don’t exist to protect encrypted hard drives full of pedophilia. The right to privacy does NOT enable or endorse deviancy or illicit behavior! At all! Privacy is a human right, not an adult right.
Kids do deserve to have an assumption that when they are texting with their friends that their parents aren’t watching them. Especially teenagers. What about the young boy in a conservative Christian family who is struggling with his sexual identity? What about the young girl who is trying to learn how to report her abusive family members? These are the reasons why children’s privacy are important. Young people need their own secure places to express themselves and form an identity — that doesn’t happen, thankfully, under parental supervision.
That said, of course it’s a parent’s job to protect their children. But spying on a personal device like a cell phone is oppressive and paranoid.
Re: Apple Defends Decision to Remove Parental Control Apps
#56I find the decision of the scorned developers to file with the European Union’s competition office amusing considering the Union's incredibly strong stance on individual data privacy. iPhones contain so much personal data on-device that Apple is absolutely responsible for protecting that data from illegitimate access. Using MDM which is clearly intended for enterprise management is an illegitimate use-case. Period. T…
Whatever Europe's crazy data privacy laws, it's ridiculous they'd apply to the case of a parent keeping track of their kids. The kid's right to wander into crazy elsagate videos and have covert online conversations with predators unsupervised is more important than the parent's right to protect their kid, and Apple is justified in ripping the monitoring capability out of parents' hands? Is that what you're saying? Ho…
All your far-fetched scenarios can already be blocked by standard iOS functionality.
The kids are safe, no need to think about them.
Re: Apple Defends Decision to Remove Parental Control Apps
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's becoming less true with Apple's increasing revenue from services.
You pay a monthly fee, so it doesn't really matter to them how much do you use the services during this month. In fact, the less you use them, the more profitable it is for them.
But if people don't use the service they'll cancel it.
And viewing figures are going to have a big impact on future Apple tv content.
Re: Apple Defends Decision to Remove Parental Control Apps
#58Isn't a child's phone a managed device? Using MDM for parental control seems entirely appropriate.
The issue is who controls the MDM profile. In the case of these apps it's the app developers instead of the parents. So by using it, you're giving some complete strangers access to snoop on everything in your child's phone. Even if you trust the developer not to abuse that, you're trusting them to keep their own systems secure and to not hire an employee who might abuse it. We know how that worked out for the NSA whe…
> The issue is who controls the MDM profile. In the case of these apps it's the app developers instead of the parents.
Ah. That makes perfect sense and I'm changing my mind on this one. Apple did the right thing.
Re: Apple Defends Decision to Remove Parental Control Apps
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
And the thing is Apple is not banning parents from buying something like AirWatch - a legitimate MDM software/service ($4.95 per device per month) - where the parents are in complete control of the profiles installed on their kids devices.
Is AirWatch in the non-enterprise market? What are the differences between the legitimate apps and the others? Is the difference publicized by Apple somewhere? Granting access to sensitive data via an app, under stringent but fair conditions, would be a compromise. For example, implementing a controlled device mode, where the "spy" data is on-device only, and spy mode is clearly notified in the status bar, or what-ha…
There is nothing stopping you from using AirWatch for personal use. It’s a per device service. The difference is that you as the end user controls the maintenance of the profiles and control over the data being sent.
From the press release “No one, except you, should have unrestricted access to manage your child’s device.”.
Re: Apple Defends Decision to Remove Parental Control Apps
#60This is...a very weird situation. > “Over the last year, we became aware that several of these parental control apps were using a highly invasive technology called Mobile Device Management, or MDM. > “MDM gives a third-party control and access over a device and its most sensitive information, including user location, app use, email accounts, camera permissions, and browsing history.” They make this sound like MDM is…
> So Apple's stance here is really that parents should have less control over their children's devices than employers have over those of their employees? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong as I haven't used any of these apps, but I thought the point here is that it's not the parents running an MDM server. I mean, I personally have long made use of MDM and profiles on iOS devices for myself and family, it's super…
I see, this all makes sense to me. This is definitely not the message Apple is conveying in this statement however, if you ask me.